Ole Country Store — Local services in Alton

This place was really cool. It was run by this feller in a Broaster Chicken apron who was polite, let me sit in his store to drink my coffee and eat a quick candy bar. While I was there, a local gardener came in from working on his 'mater seedlings. He said he'd already sold 4 trays today. The ball game was on (I'm not much of a basketball fan so I didn't see who) and they were chatting idly about it when a group of folks came in. The gardener said "prolly just looking for a bathroom" but the man who came in looked like a farmer himself, and ordered coldcut sandwiches, which the owner cut to order and put on fresh white bread from a bag. This was the kind of place that people hang out. He had a gas area stove with a pipe vented to the outside wall that kept the place warm. Shelves stocked groceries and some hardware. There was more cool stuff hanging on the wall behind the counter...not like fashion lighters you see in today's Superamerica, but like leather straps for tethering your pocket watch. Neat place. If you're ever running thru there, I suggest you stop in. They have a line of chairs at a windowside shelf-table where anyone is welcome to sit and eat, and...

Was headed to a funeral with my two younger brothers. I was 22 and my brothers were 21 and 16 at the time. Myself and one of my brothers are half black, the other is white and let me tell you when we all walked in to that rusty old tin can, a bunch of old, shriveled, Clint Eastwood looking men gave us THE STANK EYE. There were no bathrooms, or at least if there were they didn't want us to use them. My brothers tried to brave the nasty port-o-potties outside to no avail. When my brother(the black one) tried making conversation they grumbled with their arms crossed and lips puckered in disdain. I really should have known by the...

Going there was like going back to the 1950s except with modern credit card convenience. It is an awesome place to visit. They have gas pumps from the 1950s and they work great. The bathrooms are porta-potties out in the back. They are very clean and earthy. Across the street is a block building where the old Oliver and Ford dealership was. According to the owner this was the most happening place around before they built the interstate....